Greek bank Pancretan eliminates central bank ELA exposure

ATHENS, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Greek cooperative bank Pancretan said on Monday that a rise in deposits had allowed it to stop borrowing from the central bank’s emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) facility.

Greek lenders, which were forced to rely on central bank borrowing to deal with a liquidity squeeze after a flight of deposits in 2015, have been reducing exposure to ELA borrowing as liquidity conditions have improved.

Pancretan, with a network of 54 branches mostly on the island of Crete, said funding of 131 million euros from the Bank of Greece’s ELA window fell to zero at the end of August.

The bank, which is 21.5 percent owned by Lyktos Participations, said its deposit base had risen by 60 million euros in the last three months. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; editing by Jason Neely)